In Lieu of Diplomacy
by FireValkyrie
Summary: Jack must allow another man, nay, prince, to bestow his affections upon his love and wife. Pain of death is the only other option. Should Jack fight for the empire, or fight for love?


**Warning: **Unauthorized reposting is not tolerated. Pirates of the Caribbean copyright respective owners. Storyline and Creativity herein copyright FireValkyrie: Miss T. Vaughn S. For archiving information and express permission to archive elsewhere, please contact me at horrormoviebufy at yahoo . com or slytherinsnakequeensupreme at yahoo . com. There is no acceptable excuse for unauthorized postings as I am quite reachable. If this story is found on any other site except fanfiction . net, please contact me. Thank you!

If this looks familiar to, chances are it is;) :wink wink: Heh heh heh…Had to re-format so it's not in 2nd person POV. Go check out Opportune Moment dot net.

Disclaimer and a lesson with 'if then' statements: If I'm Disney or their respective associates, then I own Pirates of the Caribbean. I am not Disney. Therefore I do not own Pirates of the Caribbean. (More's the pity, really).

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In Lieu of Diplomacy

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He had to allow the prince to court her. There was no question about it.

Will Turner and his family would be murdered. Port Royal ransacked. A war against the empire would break out with India. Granted, Jack didn't give a damn if it did. It just meant more ships to plunder and more loot to steal in the residing chaos. Let the two countries go at it for all he cared.

It was Annlise he cared about. All he cared about.

He wanted her safe. His family safe. And regardless of bloodlines and other variants, Will and his expectant wife were indeed part of Jack's family after all these years. He couldn't afford their lives on his loose tongue. The prince would have them killed in a moment should he even voice an objection to the 'courtship', and should he alert his dearest love to what plans were being made right under her nose, the prince vowed to have her killed as well. If he couldn't have her, then no man would, and the crown prince of India was used to getting his way, married, single, legal, or not, come pain or death, she _would_ be his.

It was in this that the night after the brutal arrangement the Indian prince was received in Governor Turner's parlor. Will was the freshly appointed sovereign of Port Royal after the retiring of ex-Governor Swann, and what a diplomat he was indeed. He was all for courteous receptions and pleasant arrivals, but had he been wise to the treacherous plans that hung his family's life on the possibility of Jack's loose tongue, he would have received the man with the end of a bayonet.

Having been seen by the Indian prince in the marketplace of Port Royal on what would prove a most un-routine shopping trip with Jack, he had been approached for the selling of Annlise to the prince for wife. Her look was so new and so fresh, so exotic and unlike anyone he'd ever seen before; the prince had to have her as toy, trophy, and wife. Jack's refusal had been met with unexpected violence in which he was outnumbered by trained muscle. He had given his all to fight and return to his love, but he had suffered tragically in the process.

Being held against his will for a half-night, he was threatened with aforementioned chaos should he interfere with the courting of Annlise by the prince (selling of any price was now out of the question). It would have been a lot easier for the prince to just kill him then and there in his midst, but for Jack's lack of cooperation, he would be allowed to live and sufferingly watch his lady love slowly be won and taken by his highness. Any action against it would result in immediate death, plural or otherwise.

It was against Jack's nature to easily receive threats, but this one was not empty, and his failure to comply in the prince's plans would spell disaster for all. It killed him the night he'd returned home to Annlise, tears streaming down her worried face from his sudden earlier disappearance. He had to explain the bloodied mess that was his face and lie that he'd been in a bad bar fight just a little too drunk for his own good. That killed him the most. As much as he loved his rum, never would he abandon her for a sudden bout of drinking.

Oh how he'd wanted to up and leave with her that very night. But Jack was not stupid, and he knew that the Pearl was being watched, his home being watched, his friends being watched, and most importantly, his wife being watched by consuls of the Indian prince. Not to say it was impossible for him to take her and leave whenever he wanted, but he knew these men by reputation to be true to their word. He knew that if he took Annlise and sailed away from Port Royal, the next time he docked there he'd find the Turner family dead and nothing left cognizant of the English port city. Diplomatic immunity favored the prince with no regard for rules or laws, and if he felt like destroying the small port-city, there was no one to stop him. Thus the war with the empire would break out, and all would erupt in chaos.

That was why Jack was leaning against the mantle doing nothing, complacently watching with burning eyes as the prince's hand touched the smooth skin of Annlise's hand for a moment too long in greeting. He wanted to jump on the man and tear out his throat like a ravenous dog for touching his wife, his love, his Annlise. But Jack was no fool. He was a prudent man, and as he loathingly allowed the prince's lips to caress the skin of her hand in a decidedly salacious manner, he made plans to otherwise destroy that man and gain retribution for previous transgressions and present wrongdoings.

It was a fight he could not afford to lose.

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A/N: Well, that was fun. R/R. A one-shot, but at least it got that monkey off my back. New and improved and some might say terribly suspicious o.O Well, 'you' fics aren't allowed here, so this will have to do just as wellJ R/R please!


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